


The Book of (True) Love

by unfolded73



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Charming - Freeform, Captain Cobra - Freeform, Drinking Games, F/M, Flashbacks, Parent-Child Relationship, Past Relationship(s), Post-Coital, Post-Season/Series 05
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-07-28 06:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7628767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unfolded73/pseuds/unfolded73
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Our heroes ponder the nature of true love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by j-philly-b. This fic is happening because Captain Swan's true love was mentioned at Comic Con 2016 approximately 4.5 million times, and I am here for it. Chapter titles are all from the song "The Book of Love" by The Magnetic Fields (although I'm partial to the Peter Gabriel rendition).

The _Jolly Roger_ was unusually quiet, as most of its crew were patronizing the dockside taverns. It had been a long time since they’d been in port, and they needed a break. They would have to set sail before dawn, Killian knew, or risk attracting the attention of local law enforcement, but for now he was happy for his men to let off some steam, spending their coin on wine and women. He glanced over at the bottles on the table in his quarters. He could do with more wine himself, come to think of it, but as to women, he had more than he could handle right here.

Turning onto his side in the small bed, he trailed a hand down between the breasts of the woman next to him, grasping the golden pendant that rested there. “This is even more fetching on you without the distraction of clothes, love.”

Milah opened her eyes, peered down her body at the piece of jewelry he was examining, and laughed. “If you had your way, I’d just go about without clothes all the time, Killian.”

“Well, I don’t think the crew could handle that, but it’s an interesting idea. Perhaps someday we should spend some time on a deserted isle, just the two of us, and you could put that idea into practice.” He kissed her shoulder, opening his mouth and scraping his teeth across her sweat-damp skin. Releasing the pendant, he splayed one hand across Milah’s abdomen and pulled himself closer to her. Killian’s eyes fluttered closed and he breathed in, enjoying the smell of her and the feel of her skin along the length of his body.

“You’re ridiculous,” Milah said fondly, reaching over and patting his shoulder. “Come, we should go see what this port has to offer before it gets too late.”

Killian rolled his hips against her, shaking his head. “I haven’t had my fill of you yet, love.”

Milah arched an eyebrow, bracelets jangling as she brought a hand up and ran it through her hair. “Again, already?”

Propping his head up on his fist and giving her a sexy smirk, Killian continued to run his other hand up and down over her torso, stopping to squeeze a breast. “What can I say, I’m under your thrall, Milah. On nights like tonight, I feel as if I could spend a lifetime with you like this, lost in the pleasures of your flesh.” He swallowed, and then spat out the words he’d been thinking for some weeks, but was afraid to say out loud. “I love you.”

He watched Milah carefully as her eyes widened, as she seemed to study his face in the wake of that declaration. Then she forced out a nervous laugh. “You probably say that to all the girls.”

“I’ve never said it to anyone,” he replied seriously. “I’ve never…” His cheeks flushed and he averted his gaze. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

Milah raised herself up on her elbows, still examining him. She reached out and touched his cheek, shaking her head with something like wonder.

“What?” Killian asked her nervously.

“Nothing,” she replied, still shaking her head. “You just seem so different sometimes from the man who walked into the tavern in my village and swept me off my feet with those tales of adventure and those piercing blue eyes. I felt so inexperienced compared to you.”

“I’ve experienced plenty,” he said defensively. “I’ve traveled and fought and bedded women all over the realm.” He turned his head enough to kiss her palm. “But I’ve never been in love… until now.”

Milah stared into his eyes. “I…” Whatever she was going to say, it died on her lips. She closed her mouth with a click of her teeth and looked away.

“I’m sorry, love, I didn’t mean to make you unhappy.” With a sinking heart, he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“No, you haven’t,” Milah protested. “I feel very deeply for you, Killian, don’t mistake me. I’m just not sure I even believe in love anymore. I thought I was in love with my husband, and all it brought me was disappointment and bitterness.”

“That’s because he was never worthy of you, Milah,” Killian said, his voice breaking with the intensity of his words. “You deserve so much more, and I intend to give you everything. Every star in the sky if you want them. Everything, until you believe that love is real, and that my love for you is true.” Before she could say anything in response that would endanger his heart further, he captured her mouth in a searing kiss.

“Such a romantic you are,” Milah whispered when he finally released her mouth to trail his lips down to her throat. “Not only love, but _true_ love, eh?”

“Yes,” he said against her neck.

“You’ve been reading too many story books.” Milah stroked her hand through his hair, kissing the top of his head. Taking his chin in her hand, she made him look at her. “I suppose I sort of love that about you.”

 

~~~~~

 

“This is, without a doubt,” Killian mused, “the most comfortable bed I’ve ever had.”

“Might be even more comfortable if your head were on an actual pillow,” Emma said from her supine position, not opening her eyes. She lay still, enjoying the lazy, heavy feeling that suffused her body after the overwhelming physical release of moments before.

Killian moved his head around on her stomach, seeking out a better position, and she giggled at the tickle of his soft hair against her skin. “No, I’m not sure I agree.”

Bending her knee as she slid her left foot up the bed and brought her heel close to her body, Emma stretched her quadricep, and then dropped her left leg and repeated the stretch with her right. She felt Killian shift again, pressing his lips very low on her abdomen. He nuzzled against her while his hand reached for her thigh, drawing idle patterns there and raising goosebumps on her skin.

Opening one eye, Emma looked at the clock. Seventeen hours, she thought with no small amount of amazement. They’d had seventeen hours of uninterrupted peace. Seventeen hours of which she’d slept for at least twelve, and during which she’d only put on clothes once, to go downstairs with Killian in the middle of the night so they could fortify themselves with peanut butter sandwiches, for lack of any other food in the house they now shared. He hadn’t even bothered to put on clothes for that little adventure. Now they lay amongst the tangled bedding, rested, sated, and perfectly content.

The only contact she’d had with anyone else in those seventeen hours, since her parents had insisted she go home and sleep, was a short text from Regina ( _Henry’s at my house tonight_ ) and a later one from David ( _all is well, enjoy your rest_ ). Thinking she should probably check her phone again, Emma reached over and grabbed it from the bedside table. 

Killian craned his neck to look at her. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, must be. Just a message from Mom: ‘We’ll be at Granny’s for lunch if you want to join us’,” she read. 

“That would require clothes, so I’m against it,” Killian said with a shake of his head. It was starting to be an uncomfortable weight on her abdomen, but the intimacy of the position stopped her from pushing him off.

“Yeah, but we have no food in this house.” She combed her fingers through his hair.

Killian rolled over so that he was facing her. “About that, how did you feed yourself? Weren't you living here after I died? For at least a few days?”

Emma gave him a half-smile. “I honestly can't remember eating. I must've. My parents put food in front of my face, I think.”

She saw a flash of sadness in his eyes. “Well, that settles it.” Killian crawled up the bed and leaned over her to plant a kiss on her lips. “We will put on clothes and go fill you with as many onion rings as you can stomach.”

“Mm.” She looked at the clock again: 11:07 a.m. They had some time. Emma reached up, her arm feeling heavy and boneless, and caressed his cheek, his beard prickling against the palm of her hand. “I love you.”

Killian lay down at her side, his eyes never leaving hers. “Why?”

Emma blinked in surprise. “What?”

“How did I win your heart, Emma Swan?” His fingers interlaced with hers. 

“I don’t know, you just… you were there for me. You stood by me, believing in me like no one ever had; when I needed someone to lean on, you were there to support me. You made me laugh. And it probably didn’t hurt that you’re insanely hot and really good at sex.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You should have had that engraved on my tombstone.”

The fact that there actually was a tombstone (and she really needed to talk to the dwarves about having it removed) made her shiver. “And you liked spending time with Henry.”

“I still do.”

“Good, cause you live in the same house now, at least part-time.” She nudged his shoulder playfully. “You get to help parent a teenager.”

Killian’s eyes widened. They hadn’t really talked about what living together might mean, and Emma was suddenly afraid that she was freaking him out. “Sorry, no,” she stammered. “I mean, you don’t have to be responsible for anything you don’t feel comfortable with—”

“Swan.” He swallowed before continuing. “I want that more than anything. I’m just honored that you would see me that way, as holding such an important place in your family.”

Emma let out a breath, relieved. “Well, yeah, you’re my… ugh, I hate all the words for it.”

“You used to call me your boyfriend,” he reminded her.

“I know, but that seems so small now, after everything. You’re my… partner? Although that makes it sound like we’re running a business together.”

He pulled her into an embrace. “I don’t know if what we call it matters much, does it?”

“Probably not,” she said to his chest, her hand resting gently over his heart. “Killian?”

“Yes, darling?”

“This whole true love thing. What do you think it means?”

“I think it means we get to lord it over your parents a bit. True love’s kiss? Bah. Pass a test of devised by the gods, get Zeus’ blessing on your love, then we’ll talk.”

Emma giggled. “Right?” She pulled out of his arms and looked at him. “But seriously, though.”

With a sigh, he rolled onto his back to stare at the ceiling. “I don’t know.”

“Like, does it mean being together will be… easier, somehow? Once you have it, is it something you can lose? I mean, by itself it can’t guarantee a happy ending, can it?”

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it? I hope so, but I somehow doubt it.”

“Yeah.” Emma settled into his arms again. “I think we still have to work at it, like any relationship.” 

“Aye.”

She reached over and grasped his hand, pulling his arm over to examine his tattoo. His tattoos were so much a part of him, she often forgot they were there, but now she took the time to study the red heart and the curving dagger and the letters of Milah’s name. “Was it true love between you and Milah?”

“Perhaps. I certainly thought so. But Milah didn’t really believe in that kind of thing.”

“She loved you, Killian, I’m certain of it.” Emma may have only spent a brief time with Milah in the Underworld, but she felt like she had understood her, had seen immediately why Killian had loved her. She deeply regretted that he hadn’t at least gotten to see her one last time. Maybe if she hadn’t agreed to let Milah stay with the boat on the River of Souls, he could have. 

“I know.” He sighed. “With regards to it being true love, I guess I’ll never know. And that’s fine. I have it with you, and that’s so much more than I deserve.”

Emma kissed his arm, right over the hilt of the dagger. “No, it’s _exactly_ what you deserve.”

He didn’t argue, but Emma knew his worthiness was something he would continue to struggle with for a long time, given his past. “What about you and Baelfire?” he asked.

“What about us? You mean, was it true love?”

“Aye.”

“I think maybe we were both too broken for that. And anyway, if it were, do you think he could have left me the way he did?”

She felt Killian’s lips press against the top of her head. “I know if it were me, I would die first.”

“I think your ability to die is well-established. No more dying. I forbid it.”

He chuckled, and Emma leaned up to kiss him. It started as a few brief presses of their lips together, but then Killian opened his mouth and she followed his lead, letting herself fall into the rhythm of a deep, wet kiss. 

When they finally broke apart, she smiled. “Does true love mean I’ll always feel this way?” 

“What way?” Killian asked knowingly.

“Like my heart is going to burst its way out of my chest, for one.”

He rolled so that she was underneath him and kissed her again. “Like a rush of sensation through every part of my body when I look at you?”

With her eyes still closed, she nodded. “Like the most amazing drug is suddenly hitting my bloodstream.”

“Like there’s no possible way we can get enough of each other,” he murmured, reaching down and grabbing her thigh, hooking her leg over his hip.

Emma smirked. “Like we’re going to be late for lunch if we do this again.”

“We’ll be forgiven.”

“Like everyone will take one look at us and know we had sex four times.”

“I can live with their awe and admiration,” he said, grinning down at her. “What else should they expect from us, when our love is so pure and true?”

“True, absolutely. Pure?” Laughter bubbled out of her. “Not a chance.”


	2. And things we're all too young to know

He found the boy at dawn, retching over the gunwale, his face pale and beaded with sweat. 

“First time at sea, I take it, boy?” Killian asked him. Baelfire ( _Milah’s son_ , he thought with wonder for the hundredth time, _this is Milah’s son_ ) had been on board his ship for less than half a day, and the seasickness was starting to hit him in earnest. 

Baelfire raised his head, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “Yes.”

Killian clapped him on the back. “The sickness will pass.” He looked the boy up and down, realizing he was no longer wearing the sleeping clothes he’d been fished out of the sea in. “I see the men found you something else to wear.”

“Yeah.” The breeze lifted Baelfire’s brown hair, tossing it about. It was the exact shade of Milah’s, and it made Killian’s heart hurt to look at it. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, lad.”

“Why help me? Why hide me from those boys who were searching for me?”

Killian shrugged, looking out at the sea to avoid the eyes of his questioner. “I’m not interested in doing Pan any favors.”

“But, I heard you arguing with the man in the red hat. Your life would be easier if you turned me over to them. You don’t know me, I’m nothing to you. So why help me?”

_Because you can help me learn how to murder your father_ , Killian thought, trying to drown out a quieter voice in his head that said, _because you’re a piece of Milah, and I can’t lose you too._ After an awkward silence, Killian finally responded, “I may be a pirate, but there’s such a thing as honor. The Lost Boys mean you harm.”

Baelfire took a moment to digest that. “What am I supposed to do now, then?”

“You can stay on this ship, join my crew. I’ll teach you to sail.”

“And so I, what? Become a pirate like you? Like the man who killed my mother?” he spat, his voice like ground up glass.

Killian closed his eyes, felt his jaw involuntarily twitching. He wished he could tell the boy the truth, that he had loved Baelfire’s mother more than anything in his life, that it was his cursed father who had killed her. That he and Milah used to talk about going back for Bae when he was old enough. But to tell him any of that would be to reveal that he was the pirate who Bae had hated for most of his life.

“Being a pirate isn’t just common thievery. It’s sailing the open sea, being a servant to no crown. It’s being your own master, and taking what you want from those who have more than they deserve. It’s not taking part in wars between kingdoms that lead to nothing but death of the common folk, while the kings sit in their castles and sacrifice nothing.” Killian grinned. “And once we get out of Neverland and, of course, once you’re old enough, it’s more wine and women than you’ll know what to do with.” 

“Still sounds like thievery if you ask me,” Baelfire said, but his eyes revealed an interest, an excitement in what Killian was offering. “But I guess if I’m stuck here, there are worse situations to be in.”

Killian gave him another clap on the back. “Good lad. Once the worst of your sea sickness passes, I’ll give you your first sailing lesson.”

He left Baelfire on his own and climbed up to the quarterdeck, but he kept his eye on the boy as he went about the business of directing his sailors and steering the ship. Perhaps this was his chance to redeem himself for leading Milah to what had ultimately been her death, a chance to be the man of honor that he sometimes imagined he could be.

 

~~~~~

 

He tapped on the door with his hook, three quick taps loud enough to be heard over the maudlin music playing in the room without (he hoped) marring the painted wood. When there was no response after several seconds, he tapped again, juggling a pint of ice cream and two spoons in his hand. “Henry, it’s Killian. Can I come in?”

“I don’t wanna talk,” Henry finally called out.

“Come on, please?” No response. “I have ice cream. Chocolate marshmallow!”

After a few more seconds, the volume of the music lowered considerably and the door swung open, revealing a scowling Henry, his eyes rimmed with red. “It's girls who eat ice cream when they have a broken heart.”

Killian frowned at that. “That's ridiculous, ice cream is delicious and makes everyone feel better. What does being a boy have to do with it? Besides, I can't very well get you drunk. It would be a race between Regina and Emma who would kill me first.”

The corner of Henry’s mouth quirked up in an almost-smile. 

“Can I come in?” Killian asked again.

Henry didn’t say yes, but he left the door open as he turned around and flopped back onto his bed. Killian decided to take that for an invitation, and he sat down on the end of the bed, bracing the ice cream container with his hook and working the lid off.

“Did Mom ask you to check on me?”

“No, your mother didn’t ask me to check on you, I’m perfectly capable of concluding you might need some of my wise counsel all on my own.” Killian picked up one of the spoons and dug into the ice cream, taking a bite. “‘Sides,” he mumbled around the ice cream, “she’s no’ home.”

Henry rolled over and looked at Killian. “Where is she?”

“Shopping for wedding dresses with Snow.” Killian picked up the other spoon and tossed it beside Henry. “So who knows when she’ll be back.” He waved the ice cream at Henry until he sat up and grabbed it, picking up the spoon and digging in himself.

They passed the pint of ice cream back and forth in silence for several minutes, alternating bites. Killian’s eyes surveyed the room, the notebooks and laptop computer stacked haphazardly on Henry’s desk next to a neat stack of comic books in clear plastic slipcovers, the overfilled bookshelves, the laundry basket of clean clothes not yet folded or put away. “I assume Mom told you,” Henry finally said.

“Regina told me you and Violet broke up,” Killian said as neutrally as he could. She had also said a lot of unkind words about Henry’s girlfriend (or former girlfriend), but Killian had written that off as Regina being defensive about her son.

“Yeah. She pretty much dumped me.”

“I’m sorry, lad. Truly I am.”

Henry shrugged.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s perfectly all right. But I’ve experienced my share of heartbreak in the past, so it’s possible I could help,” Killian said.

“Wait, so I’m supposed to take advice from the guy who lost a girlfriend and got all murder-obsessed with my grandfather for, like, two hundred years?”

“That’s not exactly the same—” Killian stopped himself and took a deep breath and let it out, counting to ten mentally. “Fair point.” He offered the ice cream back to Henry.

“I don’t want any more,” Henry said, and then suddenly stood up and started pacing around the room. “Do you know what the stupidest thing is?”

“No.” Killian felt insecurity surging up, making him doubt his ability to say the right thing in this situation. He had a sudden longing for his brother Liam, who had always known what to say, no matter what the circumstance. Who was he, to think he could fill this fatherly role in Henry’s life?

“The stupidest thing is, I kind of wanted to break up with her too. Things just… weren’t like they used to be between us, and I sort of felt like I was going through the motions anyway, and then _she_ broke up with _me_.”

Killian raised an eyebrow. “So what, you’re angry you didn’t get in there first?”

“Yes! No!” Henry’s shoulders slumped. “It’s not just that. At the same time, I really miss her. This fucking sucks.”

“That’s to be expected, I think, regardless of whether the relationship was going to work out in the long run.” Killian reached over and set the melting ice cream on Henry’s desk. “She still meant a great deal to you, and left a hole in your heart that needs to mend.” 

Henry collapsed on the bed again. “I just thought…”

“What?”

“It’s stupid.”

“I’m sure it isn’t stupid, Henry.”

“Just, meeting her at a ball in Camelot, it was all so…” Henry pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. “And then she was here in Storybrooke and I thought it was, I don’t know, fate or something. I thought she was my…”

“True love?” Killian supplied when Henry trailed off.

“See, told you it was stupid.”

“I assure you, it’s not.”

Henry’s face pinched in a grimace. “You have to say that, you’re my… you know, stepdad, basically. But I know how adults are about teenagers. You assume that what we feel isn’t real. Or that we won’t really understand love until we’re older.”

“It’s true that experience gives a person more wisdom and more perspective on love. But that doesn’t mean I think what you feel isn’t real. Of course it is; first love is powerful. And while you’re in the midst of it, you can’t imagine it ever ending, or ever loving anyone else. But you can, and you will.”

Henry swiped at a tear that had started a path down his cheek, and stood up again, going over to the desk to retrieve the now-soupy ice cream. He took a desultory bite of it before abandoning it once again. “Grandma and Grandpa talk about true love like it’s this incredibly rare magic,” Henry said, his back turned. 

“They do, yes.”

“Do you believe that? That it’s rare?”

“I don’t really know the answer to that, lad. But that’s what I’ve always heard.”

Henry whirled around to face him. “So what if I never find it? Tons of people don’t. Or they find it, like Mom — Regina, I mean, and Robin and look what happened to them! It’s not fair.”

“No, it isn’t. Very little about life is, though.”

“Are you sure that’s what the parenting handbook said you should say?” Henry asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t have a parenting handbook,” Killian scoffed.

“Yeah, it shows,” Henry said, but smiled to indicate he was joking.

Killian sighed heavily. “I just mean, you can’t spend your life focusing on what’s fair or what isn’t. Trust me, as someone who wasted too many years doing just that. You also can’t spend your life worrying whether you’ll find true love or not. You just have to live your life, being the hero that you are, and doing as many things that bring you joy as you can, and be open to love. That way, if it comes along, you won’t miss it.”

“Is that what you did?”

“Not really, but I’m a terrible example to follow. It’s possible I just got stupidly, incredibly lucky.”

“Or it was fate,” Henry mused. 

“Fate is overrated. Fate is what people talk about when they don’t want to take responsibility for their choices. Actually, I take it back. I wasn’t lucky... or it wasn’t just that. Emma and I fought hard to get where we are now. True love isn’t just magic, it’s… it’s work and sacrifice,” Killian said, gesturing with his hand.

“I don’t know whether that should make me feel better or worse.”

Killian laughed, shrugging his shoulders. “Me either.” He moved to the head of the bed, leaning against the headboard and patting the space next to him for Henry to sit down and join him. With a roll of his eyes, Henry sat.

“I do know one other thing, though,” Killian said.

“What’s that?”

“Every relationship you have that ends, teaches you something important for the one that doesn’t. Every relationship helps shape you into the man that you’ll want to be.” 

Henry studied his hands for a minute. “Yeah?”

“Yes.”

“That’s actually pretty smart.”

“Well, don’t sound so surprised,” Killian protested. “I mean, I know I’m not as smart as your mother, but I know things.”

“I suppose you know a few things.” Henry leaned to the side, bumping their shoulders together.

“Henry?”

“Yeah?”

Killian picked at a loose thread on Henry’s bedspread. “I’ve been meaning to ask… that is, what I’m trying to say is that I was planning to ask you this for a while, and I just hadn’t gotten to it yet, so don’t think that it’s because I’m feeling sorry for you right now that I’m asking—”

“Oh my God, spit it out. What?”

“Would you be my best man? At the wedding?” He glanced at Henry out of the corner of his eye.

Henry hesitated, scrutinizing him. “Why me?”

“Why not you? You accepted me into your family, and you didn’t have to. In fact, you probably had every reason not to, and you did anyway. Who else would I want standing up there with me when I marry your mother?”

Henry’s cheeks flushed. “You know, I used to wonder if you were only nice to me because you wanted to get with my mom.”

“And now?” Killian asked, his smile tight.

With a shrug, Henry fidgeted with a small hole in the knee of his jeans. “I mean, I know it’s more than that.”

“I’m ‘nice’ to you because I genuinely like you, Henry. I see a lot of Emma in you, but more than that, I see a lot of your father. I had the chance once to be a man of honor, to help Bae when he was your age, and I failed him.”

Henry nodded; it was a story he knew well by now. “But maybe your relationship with my father helped shape you into the person you want to be now, with me?”

Killian heart bloomed with pride. “Now who’s the smart one?”

Henry continued to widen the hole at his knee; Killian imagined he could hear Regina’s exasperated sigh from all the way across town. “So this best man thing. What would I have to do?”

“Hell if I know.” Killian put his arm around Henry. “Maybe there’s a book you can read?” 

“Yeah, I bet there is. Or I can google it.” 

“Aye, or that. So you’ll do it?”

“Yeah.” Henry smiled. “I’ll do it.”


	3. Some of it’s just really dumb

“That girl has a penis on her hat,” Emma remarked, pushing her glasses up her nose and squinting to make sure she wasn’t imagining it. Nope. Definitely a penis. Armed with a new fake ID and an unexpectedly large amount of cash from a wallet she’d managed to steal, they were enjoying a rare night out in a bar. Emma sat on the high stool and swung her feet freely underneath the polished wood surface. She felt mature, sitting here with her boyfriend having drinks like this. Like a regular person.

Neal turned around and stared at the gaggle of ladies on the other side of the bar. They were hard to miss, with their pink feather boas and matching T-shirts and every penis-shaped accessory Emma could have imagined and a few she definitely could not have. They were also taking advantage of every possible opportunity to shout ‘Woo!” as loudly as they could. Emma winced with every woo.

“Bachelorette party,” Neal concluded, swiveling back around to face her and taking a swig from his Bud Light.

“People really do that? I thought it was just on TV,” Emma said.

Neal gave her that slightly patronizing look he often did when she didn’t know something. “Yes, Emma, people really do that.”

“Well, how would I know?” she asked, feeling defensive. She looked at the women again, at the way they grinned and laughed and posed for cheesecake photos with each other, their faces pressed cheek-to-cheek. “I’ve never had that many friends in my whole life,” she said, hating how wistful she sounded.

“Come on, Emma, if you were getting married, would you want a party like _that_?”

She snorted. “No, not like _that_ , but… I don’t know.” Emma took a sip of her whiskey and coughed. What had she been thinking, ordering straight whiskey? Who was she trying to impress? When she was finally able to speak, she said, “Why, are you gonna ask me to marry you?” She gave Neal a sardonic smile to demonstrate that she was kidding around.

Neal rolled his eyes. “Marriage is bullshit.”

“Wow, so cynical.”

“It _is_. Marriage didn’t keep my parents together. Didn’t stop my mother from running off with someone else and leaving me and my father behind. So what’s even the point?”

Emma shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Don’t tell me you’re into all that white dress, church, wedding cake stuff.”

“No way.” She took another sip of her whiskey; this time it went down smoother. “But, I don’t know, sometimes you see these old couples on the news that have been married for like, fifty or sixty years, and you wonder, what is it they have that most people don’t have? How did they manage to make it work for their whole lives?”

“I don’t know, man.” He stared at the back of the bar, lost in thought for a minute. “Where I come from,” he said, hesitating and clearing his throat, “people used to talk about true love almost like a real, like, physical thing. They called it ‘the rarest magic of all’.”

Emma laughed, “Where are you from, a Disney movie?” When Neal didn’t acknowledge her joke, she added, “So do you believe in true love?”

He paused again, still not meeting her eyes. “Nah,” he finally answered. “You?”

Emma thought about every set of foster parents she’d had who were married, who almost without exception used to snipe at each other and cut each other down more often than they demonstrated any kind of love for each other. She thought of what her own biological parents must have been like, and how fucked up their relationship must have been (assuming there even was one) for them to leave her by the side of a road. She thought about every romantic relationship she’d ever seen play out in real life, as opposed to the ones she saw in the movies. 

“No, I don’t believe in true love.”

 

~~~~~

 

“Come on, Emma, you said you’d play,” Ruby whined.

“I really don’t think I did say that,” Emma remarked, taking a sip of her whiskey as she glanced around the Rabbit Hole.

“You said, and I quote, ‘As long as I don’t have to wear a penis on my head, I’ll play any party game you want.’” Ruby took one of the straws from the enormous margarita she and Dorothy were sharing into her mouth and sucked, her eyes trained on Emma.

“Okay, but I didn’t think that would mean playing ‘Never Have I Ever’ with my mother.”

“Oh, lighten up,” Snow said, throwing the rest of the whiskey in her own glass into her mouth and raising her hand to signal their waitress for another. “It’ll be fine.”

“I don’t play drinking games,” Regina announced, standing up from the table and going over to the bar. “Have fun humiliating each other,” she called out over her shoulder.

“How come Regina gets out of it?” Emma asked.

“You have to play, Emma, you’re the guest of honor,” Tink said, pulling a penis-shaped gummy candy out of her gift bag and popping it into her mouth. 

“Yes, and I’d like to survive until my wedding Saturday without melting into a puddle of embarrassment.” 

Her protestations were ignored, and as soon as everyone had a drink in front of them, Ruby hit the table to quiet all the conversation. “Okay, here we go. Babe, you start,” she said to Dorothy.

“Never have I ever had sex with a man,” Dorothy said simply. With a mixture of frustration that Dorothy got off with such an easy question and relief that her own answer wasn’t embarrassing, Emma drank along with the rest of the women at the table.

Next was Cinderella’s turn. “Never have I ever… had sex with a man who is missing a hand,” she said, smirking at Emma.

With a roll of her eyes, Emma started to drink when she noticed the panicked look on Tink’s face. “It’s fine, Tink, that’s not news to me.” That didn’t stop Emma from taking a quick glance around the table to make sure no one else besides herself and Tinkerbell raised a glass to their lips. 

The next few questions were purposefully tame, as Snow, Tink, and Emma tried to steer the game to less sex-charged ground. Then it was Ruby’s turn. 

“Never have I ever… had sex in the same house as my parents.” She grinned widely at Snow, who looked back at Ruby blankly.

“What?” Snow said. “My parents were dead by the time… Oh, you mean _me_ the parent,” she said as all eyes turned to Emma.

“See, this is why I didn’t want to play this,” Emma said.

“Drink up, buttercup,” Ruby said.

“Well, I mean what… what constitutes sex exactly?” Emma asked.

“One drink for manual, two for oral, three for p-in-v,” Ruby rattled off like she’d been prepared for the question.

“Oh my God,” Emma muttered, taking two quick gulps from her glass.

“Emma!” Snow gasped. “In the loft?”

“Hey, you were the one who was all ‘lighten up!’ So here we are,” she said, glancing at her empty glass, “and I really need to switch to beer.”

Although her mother certainly didn’t ask anything aimed directly at Emma, the others took great joy in making the bride-to-be drink. After questions about sex at Granny’s bed-and-breakfast (“I have wolf hearing, so don’t think you can lie,” Ruby said), blow jobs on a pirate ship (“Really?” Emma asked Tink), and sex with men who wear eyeliner (“Oh, come on, you’re just trying to get me drunk now,” Emma complained, to which Belle just giggled), Emma was starting to contemplate the possibility of casting a time travel spell to before this game ever started.

“I've never had anal sex,” Dorothy said.

Emma froze, watching Ruby and Cinderella drink, accompanied by catcalls from the others. She looked across at her mother, who was looking back at her. Both of their glasses hovered a millimeter off the table, and Emma started to feel like she was in some kind of Old West standoff. A standoff that could end with her knowing something about her parents that she really, _really_ didn't want to know.

“That's it, I'm out,” Emma announced, standing up. “I concede, I lose, plan to punish me accordingly. Come on, mom, let’s go do shots with Regina.”

But Regina was chatting with a handsome man, and subtly waved them away as they approached. Emma found two empty seats further down the bar and ordered two more whiskeys.

“Well, that was extremely awkward,” Snow said, not meeting Emma’s eyes.

“I vote we never speak of it again.”

“Deal.” The bartender set their drinks and a bowl of peanuts down in front of them, and they both reached for the glasses gratefully. “You seem like you’re looking forward to all of this being over,” Snow said.

“Yeah, kind of. I mean, I appreciate it, I really do. I love that you guys threw me a party, and all the work you’ve done to get the wedding organized; I can’t thank you enough.”

“You’re my daughter, Emma, of course.”

“I just never imagined I’d have all of this,” Emma said, taking a sip of her drink. “And so I hope I don’t seem ungrateful; it’s all really overwhelming, I think?”

“Pretty sure that’s true for every bride. I remember being overwhelmed before our big public ceremony, even though we were already married.”

“Speaking of that, thanks again for keeping things simple,” Emma said. “I have to admit, I’m more excited about _being_ married than _getting_ married.”

Snow made a face like she was going to cry happy tears any minute. “And that’s why it’s going to last a lifetime between you and Killian,” she said, squeezing Emma’s hand, “because it’s the being married that’s the important part.”

“Mom, let’s save the tears for Saturday, okay?” Emma said, patting her mother’s hand.

“Okay.” Snow took a surprisingly large swallow of her drink. Emma had to hand it to her, Snow White could really hold her liquor. “I was thinking about Neverland the other day,” Snow said, “and remembering when you told me you kissed him. Could you have imagined it would lead to this?”

“Well, _you_ certainly couldn’t, what with the way you were pushing me towards Neal,” Emma said dryly.

Snow looked aghast. “I wasn’t _pushing_ you towards Neal.”

“Oh my God, are you serious? You can’t be serious.” Emma stared at her mother in disbelief.

“Only in the sense that I didn’t want him to be dead,” Snow said defensively.

“Right, you didn’t want him to be dead, and then you wanted us to save him, and then for him and me to get back together and be a family with Henry and live happily ever after.” Emma shook her head, staring at the amber liquid in her highball glass. “The charms of Captain Hook aside, that was just never going to happen.”

“To be fair, Emma, I didn’t know all the details of how things ended between the two of you back then,” Snow said. Emma had eventually explained to her parents everything about the stolen watches and how Neal had left her to go to jail. Even after so many years, it was painful for her to talk about that part of her life.

“Yeah, I know. But I also think you felt guilty about the fact that your daughter was alone and pregnant as a teenager. If Neal and I could’ve made it work, if our love was _true_ , then you wouldn’t have had to feel guilty anymore, because it was...” she waved her hand for emphasis, searching for the right words, “meant to be or something.”

Snow’s eyebrows went up. “Wow.” She turned and regarded her daughter. “You’ve been holding onto that for a while.”

“No, I wasn’t… holding onto anything. I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m even talking about this. I’m getting pretty drunk.”

Across the room, the bachelorette party guests shouted loudly enough to catch their attention. Ruby stood up and bowed low at the waist to claps and hoots from the rest of them; Emma wondered what rare and arcane sex act she’d admitted to that warranted applause. 

“For what it’s worth, you’re probably right,” Snow said. “At first I did wish, since you had a baby with him, that you could have reconciled with Neal. But in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on team Killian Jones for quite a while.” She nudged Emma with her shoulder. 

“I know, I know.” They drank in silence for a minute. “It was an amazing kiss,” Emma finally said.

“Hmm?”

“In Neverland. I tried to convince everyone, myself included, that the kiss was no big deal, but… I was doomed.”

Snow held out her glass. “To being doomed to true love.”

“To being doomed to true love,” Emma repeated, glass clinking against her mother’s, and then added, “which I didn’t even used to believe in.”

“When do you think that changed?”

“Getting to know Henry and learning to love him as a son, for one. Also, you know, seeing you and Dad together,” Emma said with a wink. “Before the curse was broken, seeing the way nothing could keep you apart. And after, the way you always saved each other, no matter how steep the odds.” Emma felt tears pressing against the backs of her eyes suddenly. She cleared her throat. “It’s just, there’s no way we would have survived all the darkness if you hadn’t made me believe that if you love someone, anything is possible.”

Snow leaned over and gave Emma a tight hug. “You’re the best daughter a mother could ever wish for, and I’m so happy for you that my heart's gonna burst.”

“Stop it, you’re making me cry.”

“Are you two over here blubbering into your drinks already?” Regina said as she slid onto the stool next to Emma. “This may be my first bachelorette party, but I’m pretty sure you’re doing it wrong.”

“Says the person who wandered off to hit on some guy at the bar,” Emma replied, wiping her eyes. 

“Eh, he turned out to be a waste my of time. Are we done with drinking games, I hope?”

“ _We_ certainly are,” Emma said.

Snow stood up from the bar, wobbled a little, and then linked arms with both of them. “Come on, let’s go rejoin the party.”


	4. You ought to give me wedding rings

“Good morning, Charming,” a feminine voice purred in his ear, her hot breath tickling the sensitive skin of his neck.

David lifted his head from his down pillows, and was enveloped by a cloud of long, brown hair. “You aren’t supposed to be in here. Won’t your handmaidens throw a fit?” His bedchamber was dark; dawn was still a long way off. 

“Who’s in charge of this kingdom, my handmaidens?” Snow pulled the covers down and crawled underneath. David felt the slide of her nightgown against his bare legs and shivered, reaching out to pull her close. “Besides,” Snow added, “we’re already married.”

David nuzzled against his wife’s neck, breathing her in. “Isn’t it bad luck to see each other the morning of our wedding? Even if it’s the second one?”

“I don’t care,” Snow murmured, pressing her lips to his bare chest. “We’ve been through exile and war and loss, not to mention we’ve been through the interminable planning of this royal wedding, and I just want to have an hour alone with my husband, right now. No more waiting.”

“No more waiting,” he agreed sleepily, hands sinking into her thick hair so that he could kiss her properly.

“I wish we didn’t have to do this today,” David said when their lips parted. “I’d rather just spend the day in bed with you.”

Snow smiled. “You don’t want to marry me again?”

“Darling, you know I’d marry you a thousand times over if you wanted me to.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Snow said, pushing David onto his back and moving over him to straddle his hips.

“I would,” he gasped, his hips moving involuntarily against her. “I would marry you every day.”

Snow’s eyebrow went up. “Every day?”

“Every day. I would stand in front of the entire kingdom and announce for all of them to hear that Snow White is the only woman I ever want to be with. That I wasn’t really alive until I looked into her eyes for the first time. She is my true love and my best friend, and I promise to love and honor and cherish her every single day.”

He watched as Snow blinked tears away. “That’s quite the speech, Charming.”

“Well, I’m just practicing for the wedding later.”

“How about you show me right now the way you’re going to cherish me,” she said with a smirk.

“As my princess commands.”

 

~~~~~

 

Below decks on the _Jolly Roger_ , David sat in the room’s lone chair, smirking at the proceedings in front of him.

“Stop it, just let me help you with the buttons,” Ruby said, slapping Killian’s hand away.

“Lass, I’m quite capable of dressing myself, I’ve been doing it one-handed for a great many years,” Killian groused. 

“I’m sure you’ve been ‘ _doing it_ ’ one-handed, but sometimes a little help is nice,” Ruby said with a saucy wink. Belle, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, snickered. The two of them had somehow ended up in charge of the groom’s wedding attire after Killian had dismissed the idea of wearing a tuxedo. Belle and Ruby had put their heads together and designed what he was wearing now, a suit that suggested a formal naval uniform, but all in black.

Killian frowned as Ruby continued to fasten the buttons on his coat. “You know, there was a time that having two women in my quarters would have been far less vexing, and involved a lot more taking off of clothes and a lot less of putting them on.” 

“Hey, can you not?” David said. “Especially on the day you’re marrying my daughter?”

“He’s just grumpy because he can’t show off his usual amount of chest hair,” Belle said. “I know it’s going to be difficult for you, Killian, but try to endure.” She took a drink from the flask she was holding.

“What’re you doing with my flask?” Killian asked petulantly.

“It was in your leather jacket,” she said, pointing to where his ubiquitous jacket was lying on the bed as she passed the flask to Ruby, who also took a healthy swig.

David laughed at the tableau they made, folding his arms across his chest. When he felt the buzz of his phone in his pocket, he pulled it out and saw that his wife had texted him a photo: Emma in her wedding dress, looking as exasperated as Killian was, but beautiful nonetheless.

“Good text?” Belle asked in reaction to his David’s wide smile.

“Picture of Emma,” he responded, at which point he was immediately set upon by the two women.

“Let me see, let me see!” Ruby squealed, peering over his shoulder. “Aww, she looks gorgeous, look at that!” 

“Really beautiful,” Belle agreed. 

“May I?” Killian asked, holding out his hand for the phone, only to have Ruby slap it away for the second time that day. 

“Of course you can’t, dumbass, it’s bad luck,” Ruby said, as David tucked his phone back in his pocket with a shrug and an apologetic look for the pirate. “You can’t see the bride on the morning of the wedding.”

“I already saw her this morning,” Killian protested, and then added off of Ruby’s stare. “In our bedroom? Where we sleep?”

“ _Killiaaaaan_ ,” Ruby whined, “I told you to sleep here last night.”

“Yeah, I mentioned that to Emma, and she said it was a silly superstition. Right, Dave?” Killian looked over to David for backup.

Resurfacing from memories of the morning of his own wedding to find three sets of eyes staring at him, David simply shrugged. “Snow and I saw each other on our wedding day before we were married,” he finally replied.

“Yes, and we all ended up cursed,” Ruby argued. 

Belle walked over and straightened Killian’s collar. “What do you think, Ruby, will he do?”

Drumming her manicured fingernail against her teeth, Ruby contemplated Killian. Then she twirled her finger in the air. “Give us a spin, dollface.”

Killian obediently spun around as best he could in the confined space. “I merely seek your approval, ladies.”

Ruby nodded. “Yeah, he’ll do. Although, wait, you were going to wear your sword, right? Where is it?”

“On the shelf over there,” he said, gesturing. 

Belle went over and pulled the sword and belt down, handing them over. “Seems a little much for Storybrooke, getting married with a weapon strapped to your belt.”

“In this family, going to your wedding armed is a sensible precaution,” David said.

“Yeah, you never know what Storybrooke is gonna throw at you,” Ruby added as Killian buckled on the sword belt. She shook her head. “Damn, what is it about a sword that makes a man so much hotter? Or a woman, for that matter.” 

“Come on, Ruby, let’s see if Henry needs help herding the guests,” Belle said. She stretched up and gave Killian a kiss on the cheek. “I’m so happy for you, Killian.”

The two women made their way up the ladder to the deck above, leaving David and Killian alone. 

“Big day,” David said unnecessarily to fill the awkward silence. 

“Aye.” Killian leaned against the shelves, regarding David. “There’s a part of me that is absolutely convinced something bad is going to happen. That somehow this day will not end with me married to Emma.”

“It’s almost like we have a history of traumatic events in Storybrooke interfering with your relationship,” David said with a wink. “But don’t worry. I’ve had double patrols around the harbor all week, as you well know. Regina has cast about a half dozen different protections spells that I’m aware of. I’ve interrogated every questionable character in town and there isn’t a whisper of any new threat on the horizon. I think we’re safe.”

“Safe,” Killian muttered. 

“I swear, Killian,” David said, coming over to him and putting his hands on his shoulders. “If someone threatens this day, the entire town of Storybrooke is going to rise up as one and _take them down_. Everyone here cares about you.”

“They care about Emma.”

“They care about both of you.” David frowned, tilting his head and looking at Killian. “You know that, right?”

Killian shook his head. “It's just more than I deserve, that's all. But thank you.”

David backed up a step, his friend’s exposed emotions making him uncomfortable. “All I know is that you've made yourself into a good man worthy of my friendship and my daughter’s love. Everything else is ancient history. Goodness knows we’ve all made mistakes.”

“I think I've made a few thousand more of those than you, Dave.”

David turned and looked out the windows at the water. “I put my infant daughter in a wardrobe and sent her to another realm.”

“Aye, to break a curse. What else could you do?”

“I think about that a lot. What if I hadn't? Yeah, she would have been cursed. Maybe forever. But she would have grown up with parents.”

“Or Regina would have smothered her with a pillow before she was out of the crib.” Killian clapped him on the shoulder. “And even if she hadn’t, events may not have transpired to put her in the path of this dashing pirate, so let’s keep what’s important in perspective, shall we?”

David chuckled at that. “You know, I could still object to this marriage, so watch it.”

Killian walked over to the mirror on the wall and ran his fingers through his hair. David noticed a slight tremor in his hand as he did so. “Why, Captain Hook, are you _nervous_?”

“I’ll be honest with you, I can’t for the life of me figure out why this feels so momentous, given that after the wedding and the party, Emma and I are going to go back to life exactly as it was before. Seeing Henry off to school and cooking meals and sharing a bed—”

“Aah, that’s one of the things you’re not supposed to say to me, remember?”

“Sorry, mate.” Killian said with a smirk.

“Even if you end up having children with my daughter, you and I,” he said, gesturing between them, “we don’t talk about these things. It’s how we remain friends.” With a sigh, David leaned back on the table. “Did I ever tell you that Snow and I got married twice?”

“I seem to recall something about that in Henry’s book. The first time so your mother could see you married before she passed?”

“Yeah. But then we still had to have a big public ceremony anyway, in front of the royal court and everything. And I figured, no big deal, we were already married, it wasn’t going to mean anything to me one way or the other, right? But it did. Speaking those vows in public, in front of everyone, meant something.” He stood up and approached Killian, looking him in the eye. “That’s what this is about. It’s not about whether all that day-to-day stuff changes. Maybe it isn’t even about making the vows to each other, because you’ve probably already done that in a thousand different ways. It’s about standing up in front of your loved ones and your community and swearing publicly to be husband and wife.”

Killian looked away, his eyes suspiciously wet. “Aye.” He cleared his throat. 

David’s phone buzzed, and he was grateful for the interruption. “Snow says they’re headed over here in about ten minutes. I’ll go above deck to meet them, and then Henry will come get you when it's time to start.” With a final pat on the back for his soon-to-be son-in-law, David climbed the ladder.

 

~~~~~

 

David had been gone for less than a minute when Killian felt a concussion of air behind him. He smiled.

“My love, I do believe you’re cheating,” he said without turning around to face the source of the disturbance. “Apparently we aren’t supposed to see each other.”

“What can I say, I’m a rule-breaker.”

He turned then, and anything he was going to say in response was lost as the vision of Emma took his breath away. He approached her, his eyes drinking in her long white dress and the complicated braids in her hair and her perfect face. She wrapped her arms around him in a brief but tight hug. “Mom and Regina think I’m using the bathroom. I just needed to see you alone before all of this…” She waved her hand vaguely. Finally, she seemed to register his appearance. “You look fantastic.”

Killian swallowed around a lump in his throat. “No one will be looking at me, love. Not with an angel standing at my side.”

“Stop it,” Emma said, grinning. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He moved to kiss her and Emma jerked away. “And don’t mess up my makeup. Or hair. These braids took forever.”

Killian raised an eyebrow. “You magick yourself into my quarters, looking more beautiful than I’ve ever seen you, mere minutes before you are to become my wife, and I can’t even touch you?” He clicked his tongue. “That’s cruel, Swan.” Pulling her close, he whispered directly into her ear. “I’ll punish you for it later, when that lovely hair is fanned out on our bed.”

Emma shivered, pulling away to look into his eyes. “I’ll count on it.” She took his hand and hook in her two hands. “Anyway, the reason I poofed myself down here was so that I could say that I love you and that I can't wait to be married to you.” 

“Well, you don’t have to wait long.”

“I know.” She shifted from foot to foot, slightly uncomfortable with declarations of love even now. “I also wanted to say, while we’re alone… Look, I could list all the times you’ve been there to support me, all the times that I'd probably have died if it weren't for you, but we'd be here all day. So let me say this: you make me so happy that when I look ahead to our future together, I'm filled with so much hope that I feel like I'm going to explode with it. My parents and Henry taught me to believe in true love, but you…” She looked away for a moment, then seemed to steel herself and met his eyes again. “With you I’ve learned what it’s like to love someone with my whole heart and to be loved like that in return, and even though we don't literally share a heart, somehow I feel like we sort of do anyway, you know?”

Killian closed his eyes, trying to commit her words to memory so that he could turn them over in his mind later. “Perhaps when Zeus restored my heart to beating, he made it an echo of your own.”

“That's disgustingly poetic.”

He grinned widely at her, swinging her hands. “I can’t wait to be married to you either.” He lifted his hook and kissed the hand that was gripping it. 

“I should probably get back, before they realize I’ve gone rogue.” Emma said. “So, Captain, are you ready to do this thing?”

“Darling, I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm unfolded73fics over on tumblr; feel free to come say hello!


End file.
